


we both chose each other

by luminescent (pyrophane)



Category: Dorohedoro
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Minor Injuries, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 11:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15508839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrophane/pseuds/luminescent
Summary: Cleanup is Noi’s least favourite part of the job, but Shin doesn’t mind it.





	we both chose each other

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by shin's throwaway mention of his fondest memory with noi being a time early on in their partnership when they crashed off a cliff and came back in smithereens. originally written for _devil stew_ , a dorohedoro fanzine. 
> 
> thank you frida for checking this over for me ♡

 

 

 

 

 

Cleanup is Noi’s least favourite part of the job, but Shin doesn’t mind it. It’s not unlike a cool-down, shaking out a black garbage bag and scraping miscellaneous squirming body parts off the ground to dump them inside. The grass is slippery with blood, littered with chunks of flesh, a couple of stray limbs. 

It was a good fight, a challenging one. What the mooks lacked in skill they more than made up for in numbers, and there was only the bright arc of his hammer and the wild roar of blood on his knuckles, blood under his skin. Shin pushes his hair out of his eyes and notices a shallow scrape along his forearm as he drops his hand; someone must have landed a lucky hit. When the adrenaline wears off, it’ll smart, but he can deal with that later. 

“Senpai! How many did you get?” Noi calls, drawing close. Her pale hair’s streaked pink; absently, he reaches over to flick a glistening piece of gut out from where it’s caught in the strands.

“Seventeen. You?”

“Aw, fuck, you beat me,” Noi says. “I only got fifteen.”

“Guess you’ll be paying for lunch, then,” Shin says, and she pulls a face at him.

“Next time,” she says, heaving out a gusty sigh. “Hey, want me to take care of that?” She gestures at the cut on his arm.

“It’s not that bad,” he says, “but—if you really want to.”

“‘Course I do!” she says. 

Her fingers are firm but careful on the softer skin of his inner wrist as she lifts his arm towards her mouth. She exhales, a small jet of black smoke billowing to spread over the wound, her expression bright with focus. Noi’s always been easy to read like that, so straightforward it was almost disconcerting, at first.

There’d been a time right at the start of their partnership when he’d just cut his hair; kept going to run his fingers through the shorn tufts at the base of his neck, the lightness of the missing weight not unpleasant but still something to adjust to. The next day Noi had shown up with her hair chopped off, too, some act of solidarity or simply just  _ Noi,  _ he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t been sure of her, then. The visceral knowledge of her came later.

Now, he’s accustomed to bare skin at the nape of his neck, and Noi’s hair is a wild tumble past her shoulders again. They’ve grown into the habit of each other. 

Noi closes her mouth to cut off the stream of smoke and releases his arm, the skin smooth and unbroken once more, underneath the grime. “So, senpai,” she says, cheerfully. The phantom heat of her touch lingers. “How are we going to get back down?”

Partway through the fight one or both of them had gotten a bit too enthusiastic, launched a body down the mountain at an unfortunate angle, and triggered a landslide neither of them had been too bothered by at the time. But what this means is that the road they’d used to get up here is currently blocked by a good tonne of rock. Unfortunately they can’t punch their way through the physical landscape—or, at least, not after such a long fight; if they were both better rested it’d be worth a shot. Maybe another time. For now, there’s only the pile of rocks cutting off the path in front of them, the steep dropoff behind them. Shin turns around.

The sun’s made a rare appearance, overhead, light spilling in through a crack in the clouds. From where he’s standing to the cliff’s edge is only a brief stretch of dusty gravel. Ten steps at most, less if he takes a running start. 

He glances at Noi, and from the delighted grin crawling its way across her face he knows she’s thinking the same thing, knows it’s mirrored on his own face. “Sorry to make you waste all that effort fixing me up,” he says, “but—you with me?”

“Always!” she says.

When he starts running, she’s by his side, and when they jump, she laces her fingers through his and they’re both laughing, the world falling away cleanly around them, and Shin keeps his eyes open. Savours the rush of the fall, and braces for impact.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> come chat to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ennezahard)!


End file.
